According to the UN rating, St. Petersburg occupies the eighth place in the list of the most attractive cities in the world for tourism. Its unique architecture, historical monuments and museums account for the world fame of St. Petersburg. These include the Hermitage, the Russian Museum, the Museum of the Russian Academy of Arts, as well as the Mariinsky Theater, the Academy of the Russian Ballet, the Philharmony, the University, the Russian National Library, the Pushkin House, and the parks and palaces of Peterhof, Tsarsoe Selo, and Pavlovsk.

Attendance in 2002:

• over 2.6 million international guests
• over 800,000 Russian tourists

annually

• over 200 sea cruise boats
• over 150,000 sea cruise tourists
• over 450 river cruise boats
• around 250,000 river cruise tourists
• the average term of tourists staying in the city is 2.7 days
• over 3 million overnight stays annually

Hotels and other tourists' complexes

• 133 facilities accommodating around 30,000 people, including:
• 5 first-class hotels, including the Grand Hotel Europe, Nevsky Palace, and Astoria
• 43 medium-class hotels
• 43 economy-class hotels
• 42 departmental hotels
• 43 sanatorium-resort facilities accommodating 13,000 people.